Wow! What a set of submissions, each one is really great in so many different ways. The creativity shown is impressive. I am honored just to have my submission read by the judges.

Eric, I really like hearing peoples thoughts on how these lists might have been judged differently. What seemed like a simple exercise took more hours of my Chistmas vacation than I would ever admit. You hit the nail on the head with that item that I found the most challenging.

Dealing with criteria #1 vs #2…

1. Simplicity and applicability for a 24-hour trip. 2. Generic-ness and ability to appeal to a wide audience without modification.

For help with simplicity I drew apon this statement…"Your gear list should be as SIMPLE as possible and contain as few items as possible without sacrificing a great deal of comfort or safety."

Since simplicity was listed first I focused on this then tested for the other requirement like Generic-ness. To achieve simplicity I selected poncho tarping as my technique. When "testing" the list I found I could swap techniques and use the list without modification. In this way I was satisfied with criteria #2.

So for example…If my approach was "tenting" instead of "poncho tarping" all I did for the "Actuals" lines was to write in "Tarptent Moment" on the poncho tarp line, "None" on the bivy line, "precip jacket and pants" on the wind shirt line. I agree this isnt as generic as many of the other list, but this was how I addressed it.

I learned a lot during this process and appreciate BPL for sponsoring the contest.